Personal hygiene products, cosmetics, toiletries, health and beauty aids such as toothpaste, shampoos, body lotions, deodorants, soaps, hairspray, cosmetics in the form of dispensable foams, gels, liquids, emulsions and the like and articles such as sanitary napkins, razors, combs, toothbrushes and the like are typically packaged for retail purposes in thermoplastic deformable containers such as cylindrical tubes, pouches, sachets and the like. Such products and articles are either dispensed from the container by the cutting of the plastics material or by the unscrewing of a cap, operation of a plunger, through a nozzle, or other aperture.
Typically, such packaged ingredients and articles are commercially available to the public through retail stores such as supermarkets and drugstores, or vending machines. Generally, safety or other features associated with the packaging are designed invariably to prevent accidental or unintended dispensation of the ingredients. For example, the containers may have tamper proof caps to prevent unwanted dispensation of the product by a child.
In the case of patients, residents, inmates and the like of detention or correctional institutions, such personal hygiene products and cosmetics are provided to the patients and residents in the same ordinary commercial containers as available to members of the public. Although these articles may be dispensed to both male and female supervised patients, residents and inmates, typically from a central institutional authority no special containers are provided to such inmates, residents and patients.
Often, certain of the above described commercially available containers are capable of being surreptitiously opened and partly or wholly refilled with illegal substances, such as drugs or articles, such as razor blades or sharpened objects capable of causing physical injury. The ingenuity of institutionalized inmates, residents and patients is renowned. Thus, many containers and packaging of the type referred to hereinabove may be used when empty by an inmate or patient to provide a container capable of hiding improper substances or articles in place of the proper material, to escape detection and confiscation thereof by the institutional authorities.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide personal hygiene products, cosmetics and the like in containers such that the institutional authorities can readily detect any tampering of the container by a rapid, visual inspection in order to reduce the risk of subsequent use of any illicit substance or weapon hidden in the container.